The tail of the dragon (part 2)

Cay mam di truoc, cay duoc theo sau. Roi den dua nuoc.

(First come the avicennas; followed by the mangroves. The nivas come close on the heel.)

The mangrove supplies coal and wood to build houses on stilts along the water ways. A small motorboat takes us from Ca Mau town to the cape by descending the Bay Hap canal at the rate of 60-80km an hour, covering a distance of 120km. It’s a picturesque voyage through an inextricable entanglement of water courses which cross the thick aquatic forest strewn with isolated hamlets. Going upward, we reach U Minh Forest grown with cajeput (maleleuca leucadendron) with branches suspended with innumerable nests of wild bees, not the hives made by man.

Chemicals dropped by the Americans on the impregnable guerilla bases of Ca Mau and U Minh had destroyed 70 percent of the primary forests and 10,000 ha of secondary forest. The Americans had levelled the enormous riverine guerilla base Nam Can to build an air strip with a garrison of 3,000 men and a base for a 100-ship flotilla. After peace was restored in 1975, the authorities tried to reforest the destroyed spaces and convert them into shrimp fields.

As a result, Ca Mau, detached from the former province of Minh Hai some years ago, has completely changed. The visitor can, besides the mangroves and the network of small .canals, make suiprising discoveries: large spaces where thousands of birds come and lay eggs in the heart of forests, floating villages, the immense gardens of river-bome village, the Khai Long beach mulberry plantation of Cai Tau, and the Whale Festival of Song Doc.